Greece – 2019 – Thessaloniki- it grows on you!

Stopover Thessaloniki

So, getting from Greece – ie from the island of Alonissos, to Salerno Italy and on to the island of Sardinia. A plan had been rental car in Greece, ferry it to east coast Italy then drive to Salerno. But the reviews on the ferry options were particularly discouraging. But we found cheap Ryanair flight, Thessaloniki to Naples ie airport for Salerno at NZ$ 37 each – perfect.

Then Alonissos to Thessaloniki, very straightforward, ferry to the port of Volos, about 3 hours, and then a 3 hour air conditioned coach trip to our Stopover in Thessaloniki.

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Alexander the Great, Byzantium, Balkan Wars, WW1&2 + GFC & Greece Financial Woes + Modern day Politics!

All of this is Thessaloniki, and more. Leaving the Bus Station, “ fix price taxi to city -€15”, there is rubbish and graffiti covered empty shops everywhere. The road & pavement surfaces & general lack of infrastructure maintenance display the real, “ poor man of Europe”, which is very sad.

Named after his half sister, by Alexander the Great, Thessaloniki is a port and really at a cross roads in history and geography between east , west and a muddle in between.

We arrived on a Saturday afternoon, AirBNB apartment in the centre of the city, modern, well equipped, super clean and host to meet us! Excellent. Dumped the cases and headed out to explore, we needed a supermarket for provisions.

We found one, just fine but we also found the Greek PM, in town to give a speech that evening, some opposition protesters, and for some reason a separate protest from some Pakistanis and Indians over Kashmir!! Democracy in action with heaps of security!!

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Thessaloniki Walking Tour

Walking tours, self guided or with a “free – pay me what you think I am worth” or pre- paid for guides are a brilliant way to explore places. Doing them early in a visit is best as it helps you get your bearings and the guide will speak enough good English to answer most of your questions.

Our 3.5 hour tour was from the waters edge, up to the “ Old Town”, old city walls, with Roman ruins and Byzantine influences en route. I think we were fortunate and there were only 6 in our group and it was a late afternoon walk, after the main heat of the day.

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Rotunda

The Byzantine period ie post Roman Empire, seems to be about from the 4th to the 15th centuries AD. When the Ottomans took over until all became Greece in 1917. Much of the evidence of all of these influences and of the centre of the city itself was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1917, that left 72,000 people homeless, 50,000 of them Jewish – the Jewish Quarter being destroyed.

The Rotunda is one of the few substantial examples of Byzantine influence, remaining and restored. Brick construction seems the preferred building material and it’s an impressive place to visit. When we did visit there was an exhibition of Byzantine mosaic on display linking Thessaloniki with Lavassa in Italy.

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And then there is food!

One joy of travelling is being able to sample and enjoy a range of different foods. Thessaloniki has a huge range, we enjoyed a local “ Meze” restaurant Spring Rolls, but thin with cream herby cheese and mint and piping hot mmmm
Fried pork pieces with tomatoes, herbs pepper, onions and lemon mmmmm
Oyster mushrooms with yoghurt – WHAT, too good!!

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And Rick Stein

We have enjoyed Rick and his TV crews programmes, and in particular the “ weekend series”, one of which was to Thessaloniki, when he visited the Elliniko restaurant. So we did too, brilliant dinner and an as good lunch the following day. Thanks, Rick!!

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Thessaloniki – it’s a wrap!

Our first impressions of Thessaloniki were dire. Rubbish, graffiti and general dirt and decay. Our lasting impression is of a fascinating history, friendly people, of not feeling insecure at any time, brilliant food and of a place with so much potential for tourists IF, some infrastructure investment could be made!! Yes, it really grew on us and we had a great time.

City Lockers and a last bit….

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We needed to leave our luggage for a few hours on our final day in Thessaloniki. Literally 100m from our apartment was City Lockers. Brilliant and good value, it’s a franchise and in many cities, we will use again. But remember this is Thessaloniki so next door to City Lockers is a graffiti scrawled empty shop and a dead scooter, Yiassas Thessaloniki!!